Amazing Spider-Man #28: I 100% laughed out loud when Randy called Janice a psychopath and she looked into space considering it: "Huh? No, there's a clear profit motive here. I could never get that plea--." The rest of this issue is a bit slow, with Spencer now starting to belabor the mystery of what information Boomerang has that the Kingpin wants. But, so long as Spencer includes moments like the one described here, I'm happy to hang in there.
Batman: Curse of the White Knight #2: This issue was a miss for me as Murphy leans too much on an overly convenient event to propel forward the series' narrative.
It isn't that the issue didn't have plenty of believable developments. Ruth reveals to Bruce that she knows that he's Batman and that she created the Batman Destruction Fund for Gotham's elites. She warns/threatens him that he'll destroy Gotham and everyone he loves if he reveals his identity to the public. After that conversation, however, she realizes that the Joker is right that he doesn't seem to care. As such, she throws in her lot with Azrael and company, telling him that he needs to become their Batman. Meanwhile, Commissioner Gordon announces that he's running for mayor to take down the elites, but the Joker crashes the party, publicly revealing that Barbara is Batgirl. Gordon not only pushes Bruce to reveal himself, but blames the Joker and the elites exposing Barbara's secret on Bruce's failure to do so, saying that he ruined his little girl's life. All that make sense to me.
I'm also fine with the mythology here. We learn that the Order of St. Dumas rescued Edmund Wayne in London where he was a thief. It's unclear how he survived the plague that apparently wiped out the rest of the Waynes, but I assume that Murphy will get there. The Order chose Edmund as its agent because they needed someone with a legitimate claim to win back Gotham Valley from crazy Laffy Arkham, though we're still not told how the Waynes have a claim in the New World in the first place. Again, though, I assume that we'll get there so I'm fine with this part.
But, I am not on board with how easily Azrael and company hack into the Batcave. Murphy really made his name with the first series by grounding his stories in some semblance of how they would happen in the real world, and this part is just totally unbelievable to me. I think that it's the Mad Hatter helping Azrael to hack into the Cave, but really? Are they paying him? And, if he could hack into the Batcave so easily, why didn't he do it himself? Why give someone else all the glory? Moreover, Azrael and company aren't only able to destroy the Batcave remotely but they also waltz into Wayne Manor and plant enough explosives to destroy it. It's a pretty overly convenient reach in my book. The problem is that this development is clearly going to be the fulcrum on which this series balances, so it's going to get harder and harder to believe the subsequent events if we don't believe this one. I guess we'll see where we go from here.
Captain America #13: Coates follows in Spencer's footsteps here as the Daughters of Liberty decide to have Steve seek redemption from the people by taking on the Watchdogs and their harassment of illegal immigrants crossing the border. Steve is initially uncomfortable with the idea of helping people break the law, even after White Tiger notes that he's wanted for murder. But, he becomes more comfortable with the idea when he realizes that the Watchdogs aren't doing anything legal by rounding up the immigrants; he's essentially meeting them in the same gray zone. He also leans into the fact that he certainly embraces the immigrants' ethos a lot more than he does the Watchdogs'. Coates really excels in giving us this insight into Steve's thinking, particularly because most heroes act from places of total confidence in their actions. It's fascinating to watch Steve work out his feelings on the issue in real time. I know some people are going to take issue with Coates trodding the same controversial ground that Spencer did, but I don't see how you avoid it. As we see here, Cap himself is grappling with how radically different America is from the one that he thought he knew, and I think Coates does a great job of showing how uncomfortable he is with this new America. He's forced to chose a side if he's going to find redemption, but it doesn't mean that he's happy about it or that it's easy to identify just one side. Meanwhile, the Dryad lures Nick Fury and his team to her base to present her case to them. Coates is holding his cards close to his chest on this front so we'll see how Fury reacts.
House of X #3: I have a relatively minor quibble with this issue. Hickman reminds us that Moira learned in her seventh life that she couldn't stop the rise of the Sentinels because humanity was bound to discover artificial intelligence. But, Hickman asserts that Moira believes that she can prevent the creation of Nimrod because his creators created him with a specific intent and in a specific set of circumstances. But, that intent and those circumstances are pretty universal, aren't they? Humanity was bound to improve upon Sentinels to create Master Molds and then Mother Molds and then Nimrod, no? I don't understand how the Sentinels are any different than Nimrod. I guess that Hickman is arguing that Nimrod is a very specific subset of the Sentinels, but it seems a reach to me to argue that no one other than the Orchis Protocols would create him, just like Moira discovered someone other than the Trasks would eventually create the Sentinels.
At any rate, the rest of this issue is great. At the Forge, I realized that I was wrong that the head at the center of the station was a Celestial: it's a Mother Mold. Dr. Gregor explains to Omega that Mother Mold isn't operational yet because they haven't confirmed that she's past the "Heller-Faust line," which, based on Omega's comment, seems to be the point at which they can be sure that she isn't a sociopath. (Ha!) It's a relevant point, because Omega had just pointed out a space station full on Master Molds will likely at some point identify humanity as a threat, since mutants come from humans. Dr. Gregor informs Omega that they have release collars attached to the Mother Mold just in case she does go sociopath; once activated, they'd drop her into the sun. The data file that Apocalypse and company swiped in the X2 timeline in "Powers of X" #3 apparently has the schematics to the Forge, explaining how Charles and Magneto knew about the Orchis Protocol in "Powers of X" #2. (I observed in "House of X" #1 that Xavier seemed unaware of the Orchis Protocols, but Hickman confirms last issue that he and Magneto knew via Moira.)
Using their Shi'ar spaceship, the X-Men head straight for the corridor on the Forge that gives them access to all four release collars. The Forge's security team expected them to land in the hangar (since ships generally land in hangars), and Erasmus is impressed when it turns out they can cut their own entrance into the station. He then sacrifices himself to explode the entry point, detonating the X-Men's ship as well. It's definitely a moment. One of my main complaints about Hickman previously was how robotic his characters are, but it isn't the case here. Erasmus' last words to Dr. Gregor are that he wasn't ever joking when he frequently said that he wished that they had children and that he wishes her luck in saving their species. Dr. Gregor is devastated as she realize what he's going to do, and you can see how she'll be even more motivated now to take out the X-Men!
This issue is the first one where all the various strands come together, so it's clear that the parts of this enterprise that will functionally reboot the X-Men are imminent. I honestly can't wait.
Thor #16: Toothgnasher! Honestly, Aaron had to do one thing for me here, and it was bring back Toothgnasher, so I'm a very happy camper. As Aaron himself says in the letter at the end of the issue, it's not really good-bye until "King Thor" #4, so I'll save my sappiness for them, since he says that he will, too. But, this issue is a wonderful coda to what he's done with present-day Thor. Thor decides not to attend his coronation ceremony, performing good works throughout the Ten Realms instead. (My heart was particularly warmed by his appearance in Svartalfheim, bringing the coronation buffet -- much to Volstagg's fury -- to the starving dark elves praying for help in a post-Malekith reality.) Odin is initially furious at Thor's absence, but Freyja understands: Thor wants to earn his position as king not have Odin hand it to him. Odin laments that he doesn't get to deliver the beautiful speech that he planned, where he thanks Thor for saving all of them, himself included. It truly is a beautiful speech. He also planned to thank Thor for his greatest feat of all, reuniting Odin with Freyja. I found tears in my eyes as Freyja told Odin that it wasn't Thor who reunited them (meaning that Odin and his change of heart did). Freyja and Odin happily depart Asgard as Jane, now Valkyrie, raises a glass for all Asgardians in Thor's honor, saying a storm doesn't wait for a coronation before it decides to go become a storm. Long may he thunder, indeed. Perhaps the most touching moment among an issue full of them comes after that, as King Thor and young Thor depart the celebrations to return to their timelines. King Thor encourages young Thor to take his time and not drink away all the bad because he might learn something. As they depart, he guesses that young Thor will head straight for Mjolnir to see if he's worthy. He does...and then decides that he has time to have life before he grows old. Enjoy, young Thor. Enjoy!
Also Read: Detective Comics #1,010
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